Mahindra and Mahindra. That name immediately conjures up the image of rugged SUVs and more recently snazzy, sleek, futuristic electric vehicles. But the Behemoth conglomerate is much more than that. It is also about agritech, holiday homes, tractors, rural empowerment, IT services and sustainability. With bold bets on innovation, Mahindra and Mahindra today is reimagining what an Indian conglomerate can be. And at the helm of the group is Dr. Anish Shah who is helping shape the future of Indian industry itself. A PhD from Carnegie Mellon, he is a CEO who prefers results over noise, strategy over spotlight. Dr. Anish Shah, it is a pleasure to have you with us. Thank you for coming to PTI.
Thank you. Pleasure to be here as well. We have tremendous respect for PTI as an organization. So, it's a pleasure to be here.
Dr. Shah, you are the group CEO and MD of Mahindra and Mahindra Group and you are sitting at the apex of a massive conglomerate. It has got 250,000 employees and you cover an enormous variety of businesses. You have presence in 100 countries. How do you manage to stay out of the details and yet be involved in every detail of every company that you oversee?
The key really is around what's important from a focus standpoint and what's important to provide direction. So the key things that I focus on are our philosophy around our purpose and our values. That's a very important aspect to maintain and continue. The second is around strategy for the businesses. Where are we playing? Why are we playing there? How should we play? Linked to that is capital allocation. The third is around operational excellence. The key message we send everyone is: think big, do less, execute flawlessly. And that combined with the fantastic talent across our businesses enables me to stay out of the day-to-day work and focus on these primary areas.
So the chain is only as good as its weakest link. So obviously you focus on hiring the best possible to lead the different companies. How important is the hiring process and selection of the best leaders? How do you manage to do that?
Mhm. That is a very, very important process and I do spend a lot of time on talent because that's what enables the success of the group. Talent is not only in hiring, it's also in developing our leaders. When we hire, the key is cultural fit. Capabilities are important but not as important as the person fitting the culture.
And what is the culture that you emphasize on?
For us it's a very fine balance between being a friendly and caring organization and being a performance-driven organization. That balance is unique to the Mahindra group. So bringing in the right people and developing our talent to take on bigger roles is where we spend most of our time.
I know you don't get involved in details but I've got a question about details. Mahindra has just decided to offer ESOPs to a large number of its employees, including factory floor employees. Just tell us a little bit about that. The workers must be really happy.
This is something I am very happy about and proud about our culture. These are ESOPs for every single person in the company. It's a token of gratitude because their efforts have helped us do extremely well. Our market cap has grown 12 times since April 2020. For three of our companies — M&M, MEAL, and last mile mobility — we have introduced this for about 24,000 employees. The total dispersal is around 400 to 500 crores. The value creation they've led is a lot more, and this is a step toward living our purpose.
Great. I have a question about the success of Mahindra. Would you say that the success is partly, maybe mostly, because Anand Mahindra decided to step aside while still in his prime and let professionals run the company?
Anand is a remarkable person. It's not easy to step away, but he's always empowered leaders and is always available for guidance. However, Mahindra has been successful for a long time. From 2002 to August 2018, it was the best performing stock in the Nifty. That success is part of our DNA. We lead with purpose and profits follow. Anand has always looked for the best in people and empowered leaders. Those are the key factors.
It's almost like he has become a financial sponsor, a private equity player saying.
No, I think a lot more than that. He has always lived our values and is closely involved in key strategic decisions. He empowers leaders and provides guidance, saying 'Here's my guidance but you can make the calls.' It's a very good balance where I pull from him as much as I can and he empowers as much as he can.
You have a very impressive pedigree: IIM Ahmedabad, a doctorate from Carnegie Mellon, CEO of GE Capital. Then you come to Mahindra. What was that transition like from pure finance to a diversified company?
Financial services gives you the ability to understand lots of different industries. I also ran private equity, which gave deep insights into multiple industries. The learning helped at Mahindra. More importantly, it's about leadership, empowerment, and creating a culture. Those factors have helped me transition.
I'm sure you have worked very closely with Anand Mahindra over the last four years. Have you ever disagreed with him very strongly on anything?
I'll share a story from my first month at Mahindra 11 years ago. I was head of group strategy. A colleague presented a proposal to the board. Anand asked my opinion, and I said I wouldn't do it. He invited me to the board meeting to share that view. The board decided not to do it. That shows his openness to diverse views. The culture at Mahindra is company first, which gives you the freedom to disagree. I actively encourage disagreement because it leads to better answers.
So I've got a question. At heart you're a banker, a dealmaker. Are you also passionate about cars since you make them?
At core, it's about leadership. But yes, I have been passionate about cars from a young age. I have driven a NASCAR on the racetrack. I won't share other things I've done with cars. It's serendipity that I ended up at Mahindra, which is building some of the best cars in the world.
I'm not going to ask you which is your favorite car because you'll say Mahindra, but maybe the second favorite?
Yes. My non-Mahindra favorite was an old Nissan Maxima. I bought it as a student for $1,750. It was a 10-year-old car but truly amazing.
The Japanese do make good cars, don't they?
Japanese do make good cars.
Let's say your driver is sick. Would you drive yourself?
I love driving. I still drive whenever I can. I've done many long trips. If I have to do a 2,000–3,000 km trip, I'd happily do it.
Would you take an SUV or an EV for that trip?
With current vehicles, I would take the XUV900. It's amazing to drive.
You came to PTI in that car. It's beautiful.
It's a combination of red and burgundy. I've driven it on Delhi roads. I won't say what speeds, but I had a lot of fun.
I believe it gives 500 km range per charge.
Yes, 500 km in real life conditions. The certified range is 656 km.
How many units have you sold?
We got 30,000 bookings on day one for the XUV900 and BE6. We're ramping up production to 10,000 units a month. For electric SUVs, we have about 40% revenue market share.
Great. I've got a more serious question. Mahindra has a unique DNA, Indian yet global. Since you took over as group CEO, market cap has grown 11 times to $50 billion. What is your overarching vision?
We play in 70% of India's GDP. Our vision is to be among the top 50 most admired companies in the world. Purpose is at the center. We lead with purpose, profits will follow. We want to provide the best products, highest quality, best customer service. That will allow us to take market leadership. We've seen success in multiple industries: 45% market share in farm, 27% in SUVs, 50% in electric three-wheelers, and leadership in others.
This purpose-driven philosophy, sustainability, customer satisfaction comes from the founders and continues with you. It's remarkable that even non-family CEOs embody the same ethos.
It is. As leaders, we see it as valuable. In 1945, the founders placed an advertisement in Times of India about the principles: dignity of labor, opposing antisocial trends, meritocracy regardless of caste or creed. That was an ESG manifesto before the term existed. Purpose is in our DNA and we must maintain it.
The group has core competencies but is also known for innovation. How do you balance the two?
Empowering leaders helps create that balance. Decisions made by a small set of people don't yield the right answers. Empowerment goes to levels closer to the customer, enabling innovation. That freedom allows us to balance core competencies and innovation.
Human civilization has always gone through disruptions. The internet was one. What is the next big disruption, and is India or Mahindra prepared?
The world is seeing disruption at a much faster pace. First, geopolitics and trade. Second, technology like AI and Gen AI. That will change how we operate and productivity. We'll also see quantum computing. Consumer preferences will change. At Mahindra, we want to lead, not just be ready. We're working on technology to create better products for customers.
Speaking of geopolitical disruptions, the US has imposed 25% tariffs on India. How will that impact the Indian industry and automobile industry?
For us, it's not very material. Overall, our government has kept India's interest in mind and will get good solutions. I have full confidence this will be resolved positively. The India-US relationship is strong. I'm not too worried.
The one bright spot was the UK-India FTA. You were present at the signing. How will it benefit India?
The government crafted it well. It opens up our market to UK goods and helps us export more. We look forward to exporting electric vehicles to the UK. It encourages manufacturing in India. India has potential to be the auto manufacturing hub of the world. We want global makers to produce in India, creating jobs and competition. We welcome competition; it makes us better.
We believe that it's been done very well.
You know Winfast the Vietnamese company, they opened a factory yesterday in Tamil Nadu. Tesla has opened a shop and British cars will also start coming. You don't feel threatened at all that there's more competition for you?
We are actually excited about it, and it's something I say in all seriousness because if you look back at the last 25 years, we've had this question come in numerous times right when Ford and other makers came into India in the early 2000s or late '90s. That was a question, saying will Mahindra survive? Right, 10 years later that was a question again, will Mahindra survive? Then when Hyundai and Kia and others came in after that and took a bigger share of the SUV space, that question came up again. And we've not just survived, we've thrived and we've gotten better as we've had competition that came in. Today we are actually standing at a much stronger position. We've got very strong R&D capabilities in India. We can manufacture higher quality vehicles at a lower cost than many of our global competitors, and that positions very well. So for us, we welcome the competition. We think it's good for India to have a thriving auto ecosystem, and that's something that we feel is better for consumers and good for us.
Right now for strategic reasons you have Mahindra decided to focus only on SUVs. What kind of target are you looking for, let's say 2030, and what is the volume that you would need to produce to achieve that target?
So for us the strategic aspect comes from the philosophy of, as I said earlier, think big, do less, execute flawlessly. So do less means focus on areas, on certain areas and do them really well, then move to the next set of areas. We've grown market share in SUVs from 11% to 27%. In the last quarter alone we grew 5.7 percentage points of market share. Now we have not set specific numbers for 2030 as to if this is what our market share should be. Our focus is on developing the best products, execute very well, and that will enable us to keep a leadership position. We will look at potentially doing more than just the space we play in today. We will look at expanding to global markets, and there again we will take a phased approach. We will focus on certain markets first, get to a strong market share, then focus on the next set of markets after that. So we see a lot of opportunities for growth, and it starts with creating the best products.
